In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnian Serb lawmakers vote to suspend rulings of constitutional court

Lawmakers in Bosnia's autonomous Serb Republic voted on [27 June] to suspend rulings by Bosnia's constitutional court, a move described by experts as a "legal secession" that is set to deepen political divisions in the volatile Balkan country. The region's separatist pro-Russian President Milorad Dodik, who has long criticised the court for having foreign judges on board, initiated the vote after the court last week decided to change the rules to be able to convene sessions and make decisions without Serb judges. [...] The 1995 Dayton peace agreement that ended the war established the constitutional court with exclusive jurisdiction to decide any dispute that arises between the entities, between the state and the entities or between state institutions. Three of the nine court members are appointed by the president of the European Court of Human Rights and six by regional parliaments. The Serb Republic parliament, which appoints two Serb judges to the court, has failed to nominate a new candidate to fill a vacancy, while Dodik and his allies have called on the remaining Serb judge to withdraw from the court, which they say has acted against Serb interests. [...] The Bosniak member of Bosnia's tripartite inter-ethnic presidency, Denis Becirovic, called on the peace envoy to sanction Dodik and his allies for derogating the peace agreement. The envoy, German former government minister Christian Schmidt, had said the vote would represent the attack on Bosnia's constitutional order and constitute a serious violation of the Dayton agreement.
Read the full article here: Reuters